The Other Woman(73)

I forced myself to stay where I was, to concentrate on the sunflowers that were in full bloom at the end of the garden, their brightness at odds with the dark grey clouds looming overhead.

‘I can’t stay any longer,’ said Adam. ‘I need to be at home with Emily. But I’ll pop in, and James is always around.’

‘I know, I know.’ She sighed. ‘But James isn’t quite so reliable these days, now that he’s met this new girl.’

I swung round far quicker than I should have.

‘New girl?’ My stomach turned at the thought of him with someone else, not because I wanted him, but because I didn’t want anyone else to have him either.

She looked at me. ‘He met her in a bar in town about a month ago. Seems to have knocked him sideways.’ I tried to keep my expression neutral, but every muscle in my face was twitching. ‘Don’t think I’ve ever seen him like it.’

‘Was he going to bring her to the wedding?’ I asked nonchalantly.

‘No, we chatted about it, but we both felt it was too early. They’d only been together for a couple of weeks, which was far too soon to be throwing her into the lion’s den and introducing her to the whole clan.’

‘Have you met her?’ I asked.

‘No, not yet, but I hope to in the next few weeks – whenever James is ready.’

She made herself sound so reasoned, so plausible. I looked at her and wondered what was running through her head. What hell was she planning for this poor girl, if it ever got serious?

‘He certainly seems to be smitten, though,’ she went on. ‘You two will have to be careful – they might well end up beating you down the aisle at this rate.’

‘Mum!’ Adam laughed, in mock umbrage.

I wondered when the cancellation of our wedding, twenty-four hours before it was supposed to happen, had become something acceptable to joke about, especially by the groom.

‘So, the heartbreak diet obviously didn’t work for you?’ she said, as soon as Adam took himself out of the room.

I smiled and patted my flat stomach. ‘Or maybe I’m pregnant from all the amazing make-up sex we’ve had?’

I raised my eyebrows, and she frowned in distaste.

‘Are they not concerned about the effect this treatment might have on your asthma?’ I asked boldly.

‘Asthma?’ she asked, genuinely surprised by the question. ‘I haven’t got asthma.’

‘Oh, I thought I remembered Adam telling me once that you’d had it when he was younger? I’d read somewhere that certain types of chemo can have an adverse effect on asthmatics.’ I was fishing, but I needed to know with utmost certainty that the inhaler wasn’t hers, though I already knew it wasn’t.

‘No, never,’ she said, whistling and reaching over to touch wood.

‘Never what?’ asked Adam as he came back into the room.

‘Nothing, son.’

‘What have I missed?’ he asked, smiling. ‘It feels like you two have a secret.’

I smiled back and shook my head. ‘I was just saying that I’m sure you’d told me that your mum had asthma, when you were younger, but I must have dreamt it.’ I caught a glint of his set jaw, and knew I’d pushed my luck, so I laughed to lighten the mood. ‘You’d be genuinely terrified if you knew what I dreamt about.’

‘So, when are you two lovebirds going to reschedule the wedding?’ asked Pammie, clearly desperate to change the subject. ‘I guess it will be a while away now, won’t it? Be difficult to reorganize everything so quickly, what with getting everyone there again – and that’s if the venue even has free dates.’

She was rambling on, answering her own questions with what she’d like to hear. But I’m not one for giving Pammie what she wants. ‘No, I think it’ll be soon,’ I said, knowing full well that the hotel didn’t have any vacancies for at least six months. I felt the prickle of hot tears springing to my eyes unexpectedly, and batted them away. I would never allow her the satisfaction of thinking her actions could make me cry. ‘I’m hoping that it’ll happen in the next month or two.’

I watched her face crumple. ‘Oh, that will be such a relief, dear,’ she cried, pulling a tissue from a nearby box and dabbing at her eyes. ‘That will go some way to assuaging my guilt.’

‘I don’t know about that, Em,’ Adam said, his brow knitted. ‘There’s a lot to do in that time.’ He crouched down beside Pammie. ‘And you’ve got nothing to feel guilty about, Mum. That was my decision.’

He looked up at me. If he was hoping for a smile, a hint of forgiveness, he was mistaken.

I turned it on for Pammie, though, kneeling down beside Adam and taking her hand in mine. ‘But obviously we’re not going to do it until you’re better,’ I smiled piteously. ‘We need to know you’re through the treatment and out the other side.’

‘Oh, you’re a lovely girl,’ she said, patting my hand. My skin crawled at her touch.

‘She is,’ agreed Adam, pulling me towards him and kissing my cheek. I turned my face so that our lips met, and I parted mine ever so slightly, inviting him to take more. He pulled away, but the act wasn’t lost on Pammie, who turned away in disgust.